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SUANKIIA 217
cheesecakes, portions of meat, and the spirit locally made from
barley, the provisions the ghost is supposed to need on its journey.
A portion is blessed by the elder, and kept by him for his own use.
It is said that Suanetians who have reason to disti'ust their rela-
tions sometimes order their own funeral feasts, and take part in them
during their lifetime. Evei"y year after the harvest there is, as in
Roman Catholic countries on All Saints' Day, a general commemo-
ration of the dead, and large otierii^gs of food are made to the elders.
FUNERAL FEAST AT MAZERI
Signor Sella has preserved in his photographs a vivid record
of such a scene. Mr. Phillipps-WoUey saw seven oxen slaughtered,
boiled, and distributed at Gebi, a place long united to Suanetia, and
still preserving traces of its historical connection. I have also
witnessed there a similar primitive banquet. The animals were
killed and cut up in the churchyard.
There are no monuments resembling those of Ossetia or of the
Turkish villages. Grave-mounds surround the churches, or are
found under particular trees. But the dead ai'e often put out